24 FEBRUARY 1923, Page 23

THE EMPRESS EUGgNIE IN EXILE. By Agnes Carey. (Nash. 12s.

6d. net.)

In 1886 Miss Carey spent ten months at Farnborough in the household of the Empress Eugenie. She sent at the time long letters to her friends detailing the conditions of the Empress's exile—her meals, her clothes, and the plan of her house, and it is mainly from this material that she has written the present memoir. She was naturally devoted to the Empress, and has no word of criticism for any of her actions. No piquant or poignant incidents will be found in these memoirs ; but we are given a sober account of a house- hold that seems, despite its mistress, to have been conducted quietly and with no unusual excitement.